THE ARCTIC: Little Giants

As part of the largest display of
peacetime might the 15-nation alliance has ever staged, NATO this week
will hold naval maneuvers west of Norway. Last week, plunging into the
chill northern waters first, the well-trained Soviet Arctic fleet began
war games off Murmansk and the top of Norway.

Russia's northern force has suddenly emerged as the most significant of
Russia's four fleets. Based on Polyarny, near Murmansk, and on
Khabarovo, about 700 miles to the east, its four cruisers, 40-odd
destroyers and 50 to 100 submarines (some of them missile-armed) are
positioned to dominate the far northern approaches to...